Last Updated on August 6, 2025 by Sheryl Cooper
Inside: Fall means it’s time for some preschool pinecone exploration, and we love to do this all over the classroom!
The month of November here means lots of fall activities, including pinecone exploration.
We have an over abundance of pinecones in our area, so it’s easy to find an assortment to study.
Pinecones are at the science table, inside the sensory bin, part of our table activities, and even our art table!
When I say “hands-on learning”, this is exactly what I’m talking about. Watch the video:
We have three weeks of school during the month of November since we are off the entire week of Thanksgiving.
Rather than separate our fall themes, I lump them all together during this time.
We study not only pinecones, but also squirrels, acorns and leaves. And we also have woodland animals in our block area.
In this post I will share some of what we do with pinecones.
Preschool Pinecone Exploration
Science and Nature Table
I set this up a bit differently each year, but there are always pinecones involved.
In the above photo we took what we found on a nature walk and brought it to the science and nature table. I also added fall photos and we compared them to the tress we saw outside.
In the above photo I focused more on a variety of pinecones, although there still are branches and leaves. I added a tabletop light table, too, and a pinecone discovery bottle.
One year I went real simple and placed a few pinecones on a wooden tray.
I also added some picture/word cards from our short tracing words packet.
The children noticed the different sizes, favoring the largest pinecones.
Table Activities
During our centers time we have a table of activities that work on a variety of skills. I set up a few trays with pinecone activities.
For the above tray, the children used one hand to hold the pinecone while using the other to wrap the yarn around it.
This is similar to the yarn activity, except using a rubber band instead. Both were a bit of a challenge for our two year olds, so it was probably more suitable for the three’s class. (Although a few of the two’s were able to wrap the yarn around the pinecone.)
Both the two’s and the three’s enjoyed pressing Pom poms into the pinecone! And then plucking them back out.
Related: Fall Fine Motor Activities
We added our pinecone count and clip cards (freebie) that both the two’s class and the three’s class used, but differently.
Two’s – The two year olds placed one small pinecone on top of the ones on the card and counted them.
Three’s – The three year olds counted the pinecones on the card, identified the number, and clipped a clothespin to that number.
Sensory Bin
We used brown dyed rice, bowls, scoops, leaves, rattan balls and pinecones in our sensory bin. You can find a similar one here.
Related: Fall Sensory Bins
Pinecone Books
More Fall Activities
- Art: Acorn Collage
- Art: Nature Art
- Playdough: Leaf Playdough Center
- Dramatic Play: Fall Coffee Shop
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